IPFS News Link • Techno Gadgets
Stop Rummaging for Your Phone and Check Texts, Emails on Cell-Connected Watches
• Steve Morgenstern via PopSci.comThe days of rummaging for your cellphone may be over. Bluetooth-enabled timepieces now pull all your phone alerts right to your wrist. Eventually, these watches will communicate directly with the Web and serve as mobile hotspots on their own.
Now: Text CheckTethered to your BlackBerry or Android handset with Bluetooth, the
inPulse watch (pictured above) displays texts, e-mails and your call log
on its 1.3-inch screen, so your phone can stay tucked away.
Downloadable apps allow users to check in on Facebook and load Twitter
feeds.
Allerta inPulse $150; inPulse
Soon: Long Life
Most Bluetooth-equipped devices run on lithium-ion batteries, which require daily charging. Casio’s prototype uses a new, low-energy form of Bluetooth to pull caller ID and texts
from your cellphone, so the timepiece runs for two years on one watch
battery. The new Bluetooth standard, which will arrive next year, saves
power by transmitting data intermittently, not continuously as it does
now. We previewed the inPulse back in January at CES--it didn't even
have a name at that point, but we were still pretty impressed.
Casio watch prototype with Bluetooth Low Energy; Casio
Later:Wrist Net